thank the gandy dancers for a path well worn

Alright (: Thanks for starting!

Malachi stole past the borders that evening while dusk came upon the Teekon Wilds and set the stony Glacier aflame. With both Tuwawi and Njal returned, he felt more comfort in leaving for a time, and lesser guilt that he, too, was abandoning the pack with his momentary departure. He would be back by the evening of the next day, after all. He wouldn't be gone for long. But Malachi had not disclosed his intention of wandering to any other, and prayed none would notice him gone.

So he headed West, toward the sea, led on by moonlight and the shimmer of stars peeking through the clouded sky. But as he made a jagged path from the Glacier to the raging waters, something stopped him in his tracks, a faint and familiar scent that made his brows crease. He whiffed the ground again, dissecting each scent, and felt a small uncertainty prick at his skin. It couldn't be...

Without thinking, Malachi turned his paws from his destination in pursuit of this new end, ignoring the doubts that rose in his mind and fixing his hope on what he couldn't deny: the presence of Larus' scent, hidden amongst a slew of ones unfamiliar to the grey boy. What he would find at the trail's end remained a jarring mystery - a broken body, a child already sold to death - but he pursued nonetheless.